"They showed us we are not at the same level. It was not good enough. We have to change, this has happened many times already and we are at the beginning of the season.”
Bruno Fernandes was honest in his verdict of the Manchester Derby post-match on Saturday, and he's entirely right. Manchester United really are not good enough at the moment.
It was a really difficult match to unpick, with the blame really having to be portioned between the manager and the players again. Looking at the manager here, though, the initial deployment of the same system as against Spurs and Atalanta was blatantly wrong. It looked negative from the off, and crumbled as soon as there was an early concession. It seems like the system was merely used off the basis that it worked against a poor Spurs team, even though it was inefficient against Atalanta. Three years into his tenure, that's still naive management from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Once the system was changed in the second half, it took far too long for the manager to acknowledge the limitations of the midfield and introduce Donny van de Beek. The personnel out on the pitch were all wrong given the deficit in the match. There is a sense of a growing frustration about Solskjaer persisting with playing underperforming and unfit players, particularly prevalent amongst fans at the weekend. His side looked aimless, with the performance very similar to that against Liverpool. If City were clinical and David de Gea wasn't David de Gea, the likelihood is that the scoreline could have been worse than two weeks prior.
One thing that can’t be denied is that the Old Trafford faithful will always back Solskjaer inside the Theatre of Dreams whilst he’s at the post. Apart from a minuscule minority, there is only love and affection towards the manager every matchday. There have been rumblings off boos, but the majority drown them out with chants of support. Around two hours after the match concluded on Saturday, Solskjaer emerged and signed autographs for every fan waiting outside the stadium. There was no sign of negativity, with constant utterances of “we believe in you” from many supporters. That belief might not be what people think internally, but everybody is desperate to see the man succeed.
However, patience is running at an all-time low. Amongst the club, the consensus really appears that Solskjaer would have been sacked by now if there was a viable replacement option without a current job. It's a ludicrous situation. There is a man in charge of Manchester United that those high up don't even seem to believe in anymore.
Looking at the weekend's performance in slightly more detail, the system in the first half was ultimately a costly failure. As soon as City opened the scoring, United were stuck in this negative setup and continually hemmed in by their rivals. It was staggering how many men there were sitting so deep - Bruno Fernandes was wasted in such areas, meaning the predominant creator was nowhere. In conjunction with this, the midfield as a whole offered no presence and it was seemingly almost impossible to shift the ball forward to the isolated pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood. Talking of the front two, they were literally the only attacking outlets. Against Spurs, the wingbacks were able to push forward; yesterday, those same two players were not allowed to progress forward very much at all. Thus, there was no attacking presence offered.
In terms of any pressing, the system was such a mismatch with City’s in the first half that United descended into disarray whenever they attempted to apply pressure. It was disjointed, and ultimately a mess reminiscent of the Liverpool battering despite a different approach. There was no intent to try and respond from the early goal, with the players simply looking petrified at the prospect of conceding more. The defeat to Liverpool is having a profound psychological knock-on effect.
The second half signified the systematic switch with Jadon Sancho replacing Eric Bailly to allow the commonplace 4231 formation to return to the fore, yet the approach remained marred by fearfulness and thus a very passive mindset was on display again. There were an infuriating amount of passes played backwards (from the midfield especially) due to fear of losing the ball, even if the shape did look slightly improved and more cohesive in structure.
Still, there were massive creative limitations against City’s discipline. Moreover, the visitors continued to dominate the game in the midfield areas with extreme ease. They were allowed to operate in cruise control. That can’t happen. Again, urgency to prevent City operating with such ease was lacking. It was far, far too comfortable for Pep Guardiola’s side - as he mentioned post match. The gulf in quality was staggering.
Some of the stats which emerged at the weekend are damning. Such was the lack of threat going forward due to the passive nature of the approach, Ronaldo’s attempt in the 25th minute was United’s only shot on target. United had just four touches inside City’s box, their fewest in a Premier League match since the 2008/09 season. Ronaldo's two touches in his own area were more than his single touch in City’s.
This next stat is so staggering that it deserves its own paragraph. Solskjaer’s side played 329 passes compared to City’s total of 821. Manchester City came to Old Trafford and played nearly 500 more passes than United. Five hundred.
United have conceded 11 goals in six league matches at Old Trafford this season (more than bottom of the league Norwich at Carrow Road), their worst total after six games since 1976/77 - April was the last time that the reds kept a clean sheet at home. United have some of the best defensive personnel in the country, yet its suffering under the current setup.
The loss at the weekend indicated the first time United have lost eight home games in a calendar year since 1989. In continuation, a substantial 21% of United’s home defeats in the Premier League have now come under Solskjaer’s reign over only a three year period. It seems Old Trafford is no longer the fortress it was. That needs rebuilding, fast.
In their last six league games, United have lost four times and have picked up a mere four points. To put the form in perspective, Norwich are 20th yet have gained one point more over their past six league matches compared to United. Moreover, the Canaries have conceded two less goals over that period.
There are issues, real issues.
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